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Foundation From Fibo Ceramsite Blocks
It happened a a few weeks ago, when digging a trench around the existing foundation I discovered a missing foundation for one part of our rural house. Back then I quickly realized I will use Fibo ceramsite blocks to boost construction works. The other day I poured in concrete footing, and today was the day to add first Fibo ceramsite blocks over footing Hardened foundation footing It rained for the last two days, I was a…
Moss Airport, Rygge, Norway
Moss airport Rygge officially marks my first entry point to Norway in Summer 2016. Unfortunately, or for good, Rygge airport has been shut down to all civilian traffic on November 1, 2016. We arrived here from Malaga by Ryanair cheap flight and stayed overnight in Oslo, to return back and have a flight to Riga next morning. Moss Airport, Rygge was an international airport serving Moss, Oslo …
Construction Materials Arrives (aerated concrete blocks and other goodies)
That day finally came - construction materials arrived. We paused our construction works for about a month, because of a simple reason - lack of funds, or more precisely slow bank transfers, we did spent a lovely July harvesting mushrooms and even spent three days traveling around neighboring Lithuania to celebrate my birthday. One thing made me worried - it was already second half of August and we still hadn't started works on…
Katskhi Monastery of Nativity of the Savior
Don't be surprised of the name Katskhi, this is a church located some 2km from the famous Katskhi pillar in Georgia. The Katskhi Monastery of Nativity of the Savior, more commonly known as the Katskhi Monastery is a medieval monastery in Georgia, located in the village of Katskhi near the town of Chiatura. It was built at the behest of the Baguashi family in the period of 988–1014. The…
Málaga–Costa del Sol Airport
Málaga Airport, officially Málaga–Costa del Sol Airport is the fourth busiest airport in Spain after Madrid–Barajas, Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca. It is an important airport for Spanish tourism as it is the main international airport serving the Costa del Sol. It is 8 km (5.0 mi) southwest of Málaga and 5 km (3.1 mi) north of Torremolinos. The…
Pouring Concrete Footing
Right, today I found a fix to the issue we discovered earlier this summer - missing foundation for the some parts of our rural house. Some few days ago I bough a concrete mixer, gravel was already waiting to be mixed with concrete, now it was time to pour in footing for the missing part. All setup Concrete mixer, wheelbarrow with gravel, a shovel. yes pretty much the basics for mixing the concrete. Simple template for foundation Now its…
Christmas Cooking Photo Session in The Kitchen - Olivie salads, Pirozhki and of course Pizza
That time of the year have come and for the rare time this year I was actually operating with camera in our kitchen - in today's special Christmas menu - our "traditional Georgian Christmas" table - salad Olivie, pirozhki and of course that tasty pizza. It was that time of the year when again I installed a tripod, put a telephoto lens and decided to shoot macro's. Christmas time during our expat time…
Katskhi Pillar
The Katskhi pillar is a natural limestone monolith located at the village of Katskhi in western Georgian region of Imereti, near the town of Chiatura. It is approximately 40 metres (130 ft) high, and overlooks the small river valley of Katskhura, a right affluent of the Q'virila. If you have seen those amazing video clips about Georgia, you have most probably…
Hotel Zen Airport Torremolinos, Spain
Hotel Zen is a 3-star hotel located in Torremolinos, Spain - a good location, pretty close to the Malaga airport. We booked Hotel Zen as our last hotel during our week long travels in Spain before departing to Oslo, Norway. This property is 16 minutes walk from the beach. Featuring a heated outdoor pool and 2 terraces, Hotel Zen Airport is located in Torremolinos. This hotel offers air-conditioned rooms and free WiFi. A free airport…
Bad Discovery - Missing foundation for house
Today I decided to keep digging trench around existing house fundament to prepare works for upcoming concreting works. Yesterday I bough a concrete mixer and mixed first test of concrete, load of gravel were already waiting and of course a sacks of cement were bought. It was just a matter of shovel and hand work. And then the bad news came - our house is partly missing foundation. It turned out that at the end of house, there is no…
Samtavisi Cathedral
Samtavisi is an eleventh-century Georgian Orthodox cathedral in eastern Georgia, in the region of Shida Kartli, some 45km from the nation’s capital Tbilisi. The cathedral is now one of the centers of the Eparchy of Samtavisi and Gori of the Georgian Orthodox Church. We discovered this church during our recent trip to town of Chiatura. My driver told me, this church seems to him as a copy of Kashveti…
Concrete Mixer FXA 130L
Another addition to my home remodeling tools collection has arrived (been bought at local DIY store) - concrete mixer FXA 130L - with help of what I'm planing to concrete fundament for our rural house. Concrete mixer is a must have tool for any self home builder and I would say it should be featured at any rural house. Concrete mixer is the second useful tool after a trimmer purchase this year. FXA 130 liter…
Bulachauri restaurant
Bulachauri restaurant probably is the restaurant I have visited the most - unfortunately I have never paid attention to the name of this place - I always know, that's that restaurant we always take meals when hiring our driver for trips to region of Mtskheta-Mtianeti. Probably this is our driver's most favorite dining place. I wanted to change this and ad this restaurant to the blog - so last time I visited this place I paid very…
Hotel Los Dolmenes in Antequera, Spain
Hotel Los Dolmenes in Antequera is among my favorite hotels I have stayed so far. We booked this hotel during our latest trip in Spain (a week in Andalusia) in June 2016. Set in the olive grove, close to the El Torcal this is a really valuable hotel deal. We paid less than EUR 40 per night here (breakfast and free parking included) Hotel Los Dolmenes Set around a traditional Andalusian courtyard, the rooms at Los Dólmenes…
Bazaleti Lake in Georgia
The Bazaleti Lake is a lake in eastern Georgia some 60 km northwest of the nation's capital Tbilisi and 5 km south of the town of Dusheti. It is used for fish culture, irrigation, and recreation. The nearby village and the historical district around the lake are also known as Bazaleti. I had heard about Bazaleti lake before and thought there are some recreational facilities built…
El Torcal de Antequera
El Torcal de Antequera is a nature reserve in the Sierra del Torcal mountain range located south of the city of Antequera, in the province of Málaga off the A45 road in Andalusia, Spain. It is known for its unusual landforms, and is one of the most impressive karst landscapes in Europe. It was on our day 4th or 5th in Spain (traveling around region of Andalusia), when El…
Motel Istros Aviaparkas
Motel Istros Aviaparkas is among the strangest and definitely the most solitary hotel I have ever stayed. Located some 4 kilometers from town of Panevezys in Lithuania. It was the evening of my 31st birthday and we returned home from our three day trip around Lithuania. Tired. After checking few rural houses in the vicinity we decided hell - let's sleep among helicopters and Old Soviet war planes. Old Soviet war planes Located just some 500…
Vazha Pshavela House Museum in Chargali
Vazha Pshavela house museum in Chargali features objects connected with life and work of well-known Georgian son and poet Vazha-Pshavela (1861-1915). Various publications of poet's works, paintings, graphics, sculptures and photographs are featured here. What makes this place important? Not to mention that Vazha Pshavela is one of the well-known Georgian poets (obliviously) - The Big Head in the front of entrance of this…
IKEA Shopping in Vilnius, Lithuania
IKEA store has been opened in Vilnius city already in 2013. This place is very popular among local and neighboring shopping travelers - Belarus and Latvia. There is no surprise seeing shoppers from Belarus here, as Minsk is less than 200km from Vilnius. Latvians? Well they just love shopping in Vilnius. It was my birthday, we were at Vilnius, after spending few hours wandering around Old Town - idea visiting IKEA arrived. Unfortunately we hadn…
Flamingo Lagoon near Fuente de Piedra in Spain
I'm not into bird photography at all, but idea visiting one of the Worlds largest Flamingo lagoons today sounded great. We were on our 4th or 5th day traveling around region of Andalusia in Spain. Somehow small town of Fuente de Piedra popped up in our radar (well, obliviously because of flamingos) and my first bird photography session begun. Keep on reading to learn how it failed after all. Visitor center There is a visitor center named…
Osteria de Luca Italian Restaurant in Vilnius
Osteria de Luca is an Italian restaurant located in the Old town of Vilnius, Lithuania. During my latest visit here in August 2016, they served delicious Italian cuisine, I tried a wrapped pizza - intrigue and amazing. I got the feelings they have taken all the best ingredients straight from the Italy. I love Italian cuisine, and especially pizzas, once my better part and me, we visited Italy especially for Pizza tourism, gosh we tried so many…
Restaurant El Arador, Estepa, Spain
I just love roadside cafeterias, so did happened today, we left Seville and had a direction towards Granada, after an hour of driving we started to feel hungry, it was lunch time. Luckly Restaurant El Arador popped up. Restaurante El Arador What to order in a typical Spanish restaurant? How about a fresh orange juice and a chorizo? French fries, chorizo and orange juice
The Republic of Užupis (Vilnius, Lithuania)
I have traveled to Vilnius, Lithuania a lot, for most of the times using Vilnius just as a transit stop. I decided to change this. It was my 31st birthday, and I opted for celebrations in Vilnius (I have a goal - to celebrate my birthday each year in one of the capitals of former Soviet Union's republics, so far I have celebrated already in Yerevan and Tallinn). I had read in some tourist brochures about The Republic of Užupis, and…
Ujarma Fortress
Ujarma is a medieval Georgian fortress in the Kakheti region, located some 45 km east from the nation's capital Tbilisi. It's believed than in the second half of the 5th century, famous Vakhtang Gorgasali (founder of Tbilisi) erected numerous buildings in Ujarma and moved his residence there. After Vakhtang’s death, his heir Dachi was ruling Kakheti for some period from here. In the 10th century, Ujarma was…